China Bashing

China’s state-owned banks have become a main engine of the global recovery. … The surge in Chinese lending, triple the 2008 rate, has provided a lifeline to international corporations.  Post

Positive news, right?  But I hear shades of this famous scene:

POTTER:  Take during the depression, for instance. You and I were the only ones that kept our heads. You saved the Building and Loan, and I saved all the rest.

GEORGE: Yes. Well, most people say you stole all the rest.  It’s a Wonderful Life

I hear a lot of China bashing these days.  To check, I surveyed the last ten China new articles in the Post and NYT.  (Editorials bash even more.)  Post:

1. Beijing’s $586 billion stimulus program has helped boost [its] growth.

2. Hong Kong marchers press for democracy.

3. accused … Obama of compromising Taiwan’s security to promote U.S. ties with China.

4. China denounces U.S. trade ruling on steel pipes.

5. U.N. Security Council, where China holds a veto and remains hesitant to act against [Iran].

6. The U.S. … ruled … a surge of subsidized Chinese steel has harmed or threatens to harm the U.S. industry.

7. Britain decries execution : China put U.K. citizen to death.

8. China appears to be the biggest roadblock to robust U.N. [Iran] sanctions.

9. The United States has seen the [Japan] moves as central to a new Asian security policy to assure Japan’s defense and to counter the rise of China.

10. Burmese women being brought over for marriages with Chinese men — some forced.

NYT:

1. Hong Kong Protesters Seek Democracy.

2. Discovery of Melamine-Tainted Milk Shuts Shanghai Dairy.

3. Index of China’s Manufacturing Rose Sharply in December.

4. Telecom Company to Pay $3 Million in China Bribe Case.

5. China: Xinjiang Enacts a Curb on Dissent.

6. A pioneering editor who resigned amid [government censor] controversy last fall … named editor in chief of a new publication.

7. China and 10 Southeast Asian nations ushered in the world’s third-largest free-trade area.

8. Chinese Businesses Resist Eviction by Developers.

9. U.S. Duties on Pipes From China Approved.

10. China Executes Briton Despite Appeals.

Yup, top US newspapers are in full fledged China bashing mode.  Anyone think a list of the last ten articles about Britain or Canada would be nearly as negative?

The odd thing is that this media tries so hard to appear objective.  Yet they are blatant about the most obvious bias one should expect from national news: a bias toward negativity about rival nations.  Apparently we are most blind to our most obvious biases.

Added 8p: Many respond “Sure most nations are biased to want news about how their rivals are dangerously evil, but we aren’t biased because our rival really is dangerously evil.”  Gee, hadn’t thought of that; I take it all back …